Sharon and I each have our own Venture X cards from Capital One. I couldn’t resist the 100K sign-up bonus, which I’ve used to transfer points to Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Avios and Singapore KrisFlyer.
The 100K points didn’t come for free as the Venture X card has a $395 annual fee. Capital One provides a yearly $300 credit for travel booked through the Capital One portal to offset that cost.
Capital One provides impressive rewards for Venture X cardholders who book using the portal.
- Earn 10x Venture miles for rental cars and hotels booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn 5x Venture miles for flights booked through Capital One Travel
There are several reasons I dislike using third-party booking portals. When booking hotels through a third party, hotels will not honor any status perks or award any points in the loyalty program for the stay. Regarding airfare, using a portal means you’ll have to call Capital One to resolve a problem instead of contacting the airline directly. I had to deal with this situation when Southwest canceled a flight I booked using Citi points. The downside of booking a rental car through the portal is that you cannot use discount codes to match the rates you find with Autoslash.
Since there are downsides to using any third-party booking portal, including Capital One’s, I try to pick the spots when I book with them to use the $300 credit.
We have an upcoming stay at a generic Hilton brand hotel. Having Hilton status means nothing for this stay, so there’s no loss of not booking with Hilton directly. While I’ll give up the points we’d earn for this stay, including Hilton’s double-point promo, I’d rather save $300.
First, I checked the price on the Hilton website. Here is the price for a refundable rate with the Hilton Honors discount.
I found the same room on the Capital One Travel website. While the rates are listed as non-refundable and free cancellation, both rates need to be paid at the time of booking. If you book a cancellable rate and are within the terms of the reservation, you’ll receive a refund of the money or points if you cancel.
The cancellable rate appeared to be almost the same as the rate on the Hilton site, so I went to pay for the room. On the final page, I noticed a change in the price.
The $686 price did not include the taxes, bringing the final cost to $746.64 or 74,664 Miles.
I had no intention of paying an additional $60 so that I could use the $300 credit, so I went back to the Hilton page to book the room. I’ll find some other way to spend the credit.
After I booked the room, I wondered if Capital One Travel had a price match guarantee. In fact, they do.
Price Matching After You Book
If you find a better price for a flight, hotel or rental car on another site within 24 hours of booking with Capital One Travel, you can get a refund for the difference.
Simply call Capital One Travel at 844-422-6922 to submit a price match claim with the customer support team. If the agent can verify the lower price while on the phone with you, you’ll get a 100% refund for the price difference.
If the Capital One Travel support team can’t verify the lower price during the call, they’ll start an offline review and get back to you.
Here are some more things to keep in mind when requesting a price match refund:
-
- The itinerary has to be an exact match to the booking you made on Capital One Travel.
- You have to submit your claim within 24 hours of making your original reservation.
- The price of the new itinerary must be available to the general public at the time of review without using any coupons, promotions or member discounts.
- The price has to be in U.S. dollars, including all taxes and fees.
I could have tried to have Capital One Travel match the non-Honors rate (which was a few dollars more). This way I could have used the credit and still paid the lower price. I would try but I ended up paying for the room with Honors points instead of cash since we have a bunch from getting the Hilton Surpass AMEX.
I am curious if anyone out there has tried to put in a price match request with Capital One Travel. The process seems straightforward, and having a phone rep confirm the price is better than most other programs requiring you to fill out a web form with screenshots.
I’m sure there will be another chance to use the credit. This was the first time I’d tried to use it for a hotel, and now I know to make sure the prices are the same (or be prepared to call Capital One.)
Want to comment on this post? Great! Please read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.